As the Stoplight Turns - part 2

God is in complete control.
God is able to make good from any circumstance, and indeed He does to His glory.

How do our actions reveal that our hearts need adjustment, that perhaps we need to repent and ask God for a new heart in this matter?
(And I’d suggest it is typically an ongoing journey of embracing these truths, not a once-for-all, never-struggle-again situation. Just when we think we’ve got it down, our deceitful heart—or Satan’s temptation, will rise up to ‘test’ us in this again…beware!)

Here are some heart-check questions:
1). Do I find myself wanting and directing (nicely demanding?) circumstances and situations to go a specific way, insisting this way is ‘best’?
2) Do I get irritated or frustrated when people or situations do not go the way I think they should?
3) Do I spend significant effort lining up ‘ducks in a row’ and then becoming angry/frustrated when another thinks differently or knocks down one of those ducks (to thwart my plan)? Do I then question their intelligence or competence?
4)Do I roll my eyes (literally or just inside) when people think differently than I do about a situation, or my husband (or pastor, or friend) sees a situation in a different light than I do and wants to proceed in a way other than my desire?
5) Do I question God’s placement of me in circumstances, relationships, trials or responsibilities and often try to get out of them, assuming this is the ‘answer’?
6) Do I worry about the possibilities of tomorrow if something does (or does not) go the way I think is best? Do I imagine potential scenarios of doom, based on unfavorable outcomes of current situations?
7) Do I find myself, when situations and circumstances turn out differently than I’d desire, thinking or asking cynically, “What is God thinking in this?” Or “Don’t you know I can’t handle this, God? “

Additionally, consider these other possible warning signs:
~A heart that grows hard, resigning one’s self to duty, soldiering on, without a heart that is soft and tender which strives to embrace God’s goodness in a situation.
~A recurring situation/event/reality in your own experience that is quickly revisited in your memory when things go differently than you’d want; this ‘familiar, comfortable rut’ seems to prove that God might not be completely trustworthy, “after all, remember…?!”
~Most get discouraged; that’s human. But continuing in discouragement because ‘that’s just the way life is’. Seeing yourself as the victim caught in a despair outside your control.
~Holding back trust in some area. Can you honestly commit (in faith) to the following statement (not just the words, but the implication of their meaning)?

I trust God to do whatever He chooses with every aspect of/in my life (person, situation, possession, dream, relationship, accomplishment, health, etc.), including _____________________ (and then fill in what means the VERY most to you . )
By faith, I would say (like Job), ‘the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Any of these may be indicators of a heart taken over by self-reliance, distrust of God, or an unbelief in his perfect and complete control and goodness.
(This is not a definitive diagnostic test; see it more as a screening to do further heart investigation before God should you identify some ‘red flag’ areas’ ---)

Antidote?
Repentance (1 Jn 1:9) and Renewal of your mind (and heart) by a transfusion of Scripture (Rom 12:2).

“God is too wise to be mistaken; God is too good to be unkind.
So when you don’t understand, When you don’t see his plan,
When you can’t trace His hand,
Trust His Heart.” ~copied